Definitely the words of a Houstonian. Houston has unreal humidity, and Austin doesn’t come close. But if you’ve never lived in a humid climate… get ready.
It rains a lot down here, too, which people don’t usually believe. Especially in the spring and early summer. No doubt you heard about the floods this year.
Politically, the red/blue divide isn’t as pronounced as it was in the 1970s and 1980s. Whatever your political leaning, you’ll find like-minded folks in the city. It isn’t the liberal oasis that it used to be… not that that’s a bad thing (says the centrist-lefty). I work at UT and even there I sometimes wonder where the lefty kooks went! (Granted, I moved here from Cambridge, Massachusetts.)
Skylark didn’t make that up. Austin strongly promotes itself that way. I don’t know it is really the live music capital of the world but they say it over and over. My stepbrother is a musician and lives in Austin and seems to like it for that reason. I think the key may be the “live music” part. The last time I visited there, my stepbrother told me they even wanted to have small concert style live music playing in the airport throughout the day to drive the point home even as people were coming and going from the city.
What’s with the snark? I’ve been to all of the cities you’ve mentioned and Austin certainly ranks up there with them. If you want to see the Nickelback monster world tour, it probably won’t come here - more of a Dallas/San Antonio/Houston stop. But almost every club downtown has live music every night. Some big names, some not-so-big. The Chronicle lists shows for the week and if live music is your thing, you’re in nirvana. Not to mention SXSW, ACL Fest, and any number of festivals that play here.
The music scene here is unique in the respect that so many people are involved. In my department, there are three part-time bands composed of faculty and staff. Any workplace with more than five people probably has someone working there in a band. Not just hipsters, either. One of the bands I play with is a country/doo-wop combo. The blues has quite a foothold here, but there are so many hybrid combos - just eard of a friend’s band called Cowboys and Indians - mixing country with South Asian rhythms.
I don’t doubt that there’s more going on in NYC, but it’s only about 10 times bigger than Austin.
Any native will tell you that Sixth Street is rapidly becoming a tourist trap, though there are plenty of good spots. Some of the more interesting spots are off Sixth Street, like the railyard district (rapidly becoming condo-ized) and South Congress (I refuse to call it “SoCo”). Next time you’re in town, hajario, have a knowledgeable native take you around to the better spots.
I don’t take issue with the fact that there is a lot of music there and a wide variety too but to call it the Live Music Capital of the World is ridiculous. Once you start making qualifications like “for Texas” or “for a city of its size” you may have a point. I have no doubt that I missed any number of off the beaten path places that only locals know about but I was talking specifically about Sixth Street which was mentioned as a cool place by the poster to whom I was responding.
I couldn’t believe my good luck when I was sent to Austin on business. I had heard so many good things and had high expectations. It is indeed a cool and funky place but not even close to “by far the most amazing and cool place in the world” like its citizens would lead you to believe.
One word of caution about people from Ausitn: by and large, they love their city and can be very touchy about complaints about it–there are places where griping about the city it a bonding experience, but Austin isn’t one of them. I wouldn’t go in and make any unfavorable comparisons to CA to the natives. Save those for people you’ve known for years. People are likely to take it the wrong way.
Austin is more of a “cool to live in” place than a “cool to visit” place. It’s not that there are a handful of very cool things to do, but that there are infinite pretty cool things to do, plus it’s fairly affordable, plus it’s small enough to be (kinda) easy to get around in. It’s a place that, when you live there, you feel a part of–there is a distinct folkgeist you partake in, a shared experience that’s unique to Austin. Austin is not the only city to have a unique groove, but it’s the only city that feels like Austin, and it resonates with some people. They are the ones that tell you it’s amazing and funky and special. Just because it doesn’t resonate with you in the same way doesn’t mean it’s not real.
Where did I say it wasn’t real? You act like I called it a shithole. All I said was that I my opinion it’s not the most amazing place in the world and that it’s music reputation is overstated. It’s a cool little place but then so is Portland and Memphis.
You don’t want to move here. Trust me. The population growth has already gotten out of control and your moving here won’t help. Just stay in CA where you belong.
Wow. Surreal. I honestly don’t board-stalk, but there was something about your post which rang a bell. You’ve been telling people not to move to Austin for a long time. You’re kind of a one-man “don’t move to Austin” institution. I won’t link to the search results I got in order to dig up that old thread; I don’t want to bog down the server with people clicking on it, but you’re really all over Austin threads, aren’t you?
I was born here. I’ve watched the downhill slide here since the 60’s. No, I don’t appreciate all the people who think where they are from sucks so they decide to move here and make it suck here too. Sue me.
I think UncleRojelio is half-joking. If you’re a native Austinite, you’ve seen the city change quite a bit from the small city where everybody rubbed shoulders to the small big city with ridiculous traffic because nobody planned for it becoming larger.
I personally hate going downtown because the railyards south of Sixth, which used to be warehouses and the Covert used car lot, is now full of high-rise condos. This is Texas! Part of living here is having a yard… it’s not Manhattan. But now there’s a Manhattan-type lifestyle available for people living here.
Since this board is about fighting ignorance, let me know what you think about SXSW. People around the world seem to think it’s pretty important, and no doubt one of the reasons Austin claims to be the live music capital of the world. It’s not such a ridiculous claim. I think I don’t have a problem with the gist of what you’re saying, but the assumption that one is some provincial hayseed who’s never been anywhere if you give credence to Austin’s tagline is pretty insulting… unnecessarily so.
You have to cut UncleRojelio a little slack. I have been in the Austin area for going on 18 years and it has changed. Much of the change seemed to start with the tech boom. Lots of people with lots of house money moved here. Yuppie has replaced hippie/cowboy and a lot of the “Keep Austin Weird” has disappeared. What that means is that people are still very nice, there is still a huge variety of things to see and do in Austin, but much of what made Austin a charming town has changed.
To the OP, I live in Round Rock and am pretty familiar with the northern suburbs. I will do my best to answer any questions you have. For old houses that are still somewhat affordable, I reccomend Georgetown. Although, it is about as conservative a town as you will find. Unless you are working for Dell, don’t move to Round Rock. Far too many people, far too little diversity.
It sounds to me like that’s a pretty damn cool festival, one of many cool festivals around the world. Even if I concede that it’s the coolest of all of the cool festivals, it’s only for four days out of the year.
My God, I thought that Santa Barbara was chauvinistic, but Austin has us beat by a mile. I say that I like Austin but don’t love it and I say that it is a good place for music but not the best in the world and it’s as if I compared it to the bowels of Hell.
But that’s not what you said. You added the snide comment that only someone who has not traveled much would consider Austin the live music capital of the world. That was the snarky part that got my goat. Judging from your response about SXSW, it sounds like you didn’t know about it before I mentioned it to you - which would make me think that if you’re a live music fan, it’s something you really would know about. I run into people from Japan, Scotland, and across the US at SXSW and I hear regularly about how it’s a one-of-a-kind type of an event. I don’t know how one would quantify the claim, but having visited the cities you mentioned, I didn’t find Austin out of their league. Live music capital of the world is a subjective claim, but Austin certainly has a reasonable claim to the title.
FTR, I used to live in San Luis Obispo and I’ve visited SB many times - saw Sting and Morrissey at the Arlington Theatre, and Stone Temple Pilots and Sheryl Crow at an outdoor venue there as well. (Obviously at different times, not all at once!) Nice city. State Street was enjoyable but I can assure you the reputation doesn’t extend beyond the city limits.
